BlackBerry Backs Off Multiyear Highs After Earnings
BlackBerry reported mixed fiscal first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Friday and shares fell 12%.
When BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) reported its fiscal first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Friday, the company posted $0.02 in earnings per share (EPS) and $235 million in revenue. The consensus estimates had called for breakeven earnings and $264.5 million in revenue.
Roughly 79% of first-quarter software and services revenue (excluding IP licensing and professional services) was recurring. BlackBerry had over 3,000 enterprise customer orders in the quarter.
Management believes that the company is better positioned to invest in its strategic areas of focus to drive long-term sustainable growth, while returning capital through share repurchases to further enhance shareholder value.
As a result, the outlook for 2018 is unchanged and the firm expects growth at or above the overall market in software and services. The firm also expects to be profitable on a non-GAAP basis and to generate positive free cash flow for the full year. The consensus estimates are $0.02 in EPS and $987.4 million in revenue for this fiscal year.
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On the books, BlackBerry’s total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments increased by $855 million to approximately $2.6 billion.
John Chen, executive chair and chief executive, BlackBerry, commented:
In Q1, we made great progress strengthening our strategic position in emerging growth markets, most notably in cybersecurity and the Enterprise of Things. We secured key design wins in high growth segments of automotive technology, including advanced driver assist, digital instrument cluster and our hypervisor solution. Our ecosystem is growing with Qualcomm and NVIDIA adopting BlackBerry technology for their automotive platforms. Furthermore, we have been recognized once again as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant on the strength of our BlackBerry Secure platform.
Shares of BlackBerry retreated 12% Friday morning to $9.73. The consensus analyst price target is $9.19, and the 52-week range is $6.23 to $11.74.
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Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
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